Have you considered flying at or joining an RC club? There's at least 5 different clubs in the Charlotte area. You can use the AMA Search Page to look them up.

Yea - I've been tinkering with the idea but it's not overly appealing to me mainly because there are none that are very conveniently located to me. I've got about 5 places to fly that are within a 10 minute drive of my house and all of these fields are a long way away (25 minutes or so drive time).

I'll keep considering it though - I do realize that joining a club is probably one of the best resources I could get. But so far I really don't mind learning by myself.

I agree completely and can't thank everyone enough for their input. I'm self teaching myself to fly and without the help on here I'm sure my learning curve would be a bit steeper.

It's great to here different thoughts on how to acccomplish certain challenges and it gives me many things to consider when heading out for my next practice session.

Let me share a bit of my experience, which may help....

I started in this hobby a couple of years ago with a Hangar 9 Alpha 40.

I had 'buddy-boxed' for 3-4 consecutive Thursday evenings (training nite) with a Hobbie 60-sized trainer. I hadn't yet landed it, but got the 'rudiments' under my belt.

When I was getting ready to solo (with my own bird, as above) I had some issues with the Evolution motor - it kept 'crapping out' half-way down the runway. I quit in September, after that, due to "tune" issues, until the following spring.

Fast forward. After sim time and the purchase of a T-28D, I just 'went for it.'
My first solo was 'one and done' - and remarkably, the club VP (that I didn't know) was there. I stated in an off-hand way that "it feels good to finally solo!" He congratulated me on the event, and I've not had (many) issues since. Except for the T-28D #1 (which I elaborated on endlessly here).

Alpha 40 was donated to Gary, which helped me immensely in the early days with the plane, and construction "issues." Thanks, man!

I'm 'all-electric' for the moment. May get back into glow/gas again, but - hell - who wants to worry about the wipe-down/dead-sticks, etc.?

There's nothing like the sound of an internal combustion engine though....

Well, if I was a "group-think" or "herd-mentality" kinda' guy, I'd disagree. But I'm not.

That said, there are many benefits to a club, on occasion.

I'm of an independent mind.

If I had put my Stinson in the air, by myself in a park, with ailerons reversed, which I was SURE were correct - well...you know what the result would have been, if someone hadn't called my attention to it.

I'll touch a little more on setting up for final. While I don't advocate rudder only when setting up, as mentioned with the T-28 you can sort of fly rudder only due to the coupling. This is true for most trainer aircraft. Trying to fly with rudder only, (left hand) for a little while is good practice. Some people recommend using rudder only a couple of times for the 2nd 90° turn when lining up for touch and gos, runway fly overs, or landing just to get one thinking about using the rudder if needed and to get a feel for it.

I would also recommend heading to one of the flying fields, and at least checking them out online. As mentioned you might find someone who lives near you that might be able to buddy box with you or give you some pointers while you fly. He may ask for a little money or donation to the club, which is fine. I would check with what the clubs new member / training rates are. Since you have already solo'd you should get a discount on that, and you should be able to get a free, or less than $5 buddy box flight with one of their trainers for them to evaluate you. They will take off and land, but you get to fly and they get to see how well you fly. (It is tougher with an audience, but good practice). Clubs are often a wealth of information and can be fun. I never thought I would join because I thought $40/year was expensive, and it was 20+ min away. I met some great guys, learned a lot, and have remained a member since even though I only make it to the field a few times a year.

At the field you will need an AMA card to solo your plane. You might be able to just have a Park Pilot card for $30. It is up to the club. The more progressive clubs are accepting more park flyers these days and don't look down on them. Much of what I and others have mentioned can be found in the AMA magazines, plus the magazines other cool stuff and information.

I also can't recommend sims enough. I practiced so much on sims, just trying things to see if they worked, or how to get our of certain situations. If you crash, just hit the reset button and try again. It also gives you access to get the feel of a bunch of planes and their different characteristics which helps for flying anything.

Last edited by pkquat; Jan 27, 2011 at 01:59 PM.
Reason: Found a mentor look up.

Well, if I was a "group-think" or "herd-mentality" kinda' guy, I'd disagree. But I'm not.

That said, there are many benefits to a club, on occasion.

I'm of an independent mind.

If I had put my Stinson in the air, by myself in a park, with ailerons reversed, which I was SURE were correct - well...you know what the result would have been, if someone hadn't called my attention to it.

I don't have access to a club and sometimes I wish I did simply because I don't have anywhere to land... curbs are really hard on cowls! Anyway, the first plane that I bought after my Super Cub 5 years ago was the Stryker. That plane built a lot of confidence for me so I bought the t-28 (pre-ordered it) and the first one started on fire mid air because I had one of the bad esc's so when HH sent me a new plane I assumed everything was set up correctly and took off without checking the control surfaces. Ailerons were reversed and I actually flew it around like that for 30 seconds or so (felt like a really long time trying to reverse my brain and try to land) but I ended up "landing" in a very very tall tree. If somebody would have been there with me, they may have thought "hummm this guy kind of seems like a nuub, I should remind him to check his control surfaces." That would have been nice!

I don't have access to a club and sometimes I wish I did simply because I don't have anywhere to land... curbs are really hard on cowls! Anyway, the first plane that I bought after my Super Cub 5 years ago was the Stryker. That plane built a lot of confidence for me so I bought the t-28 (pre-ordered it) and the first one started on fire mid air because I had one of the bad esc's so when HH sent me a new plane I assumed everything was set up correctly and took off without checking the control surfaces. Ailerons were reversed and I actually flew it around like that for 30 seconds or so (felt like a really long time trying to reverse my brain and try to land) but I ended up "landing" in a very very tall tree. If somebody would have been there with me, they may have thought "hummm this guy kind of seems like a nuub, I should remind him to check his control surfaces." That would have been nice!

Yea - already experienced the reversed aileron issue on my maiden. That was a painful experience. My plane crashed within 30 seconds and completely broke off the nose of the plane (behind the cowl) and ripped the wing off as well. I was able to epoxy it back together and it flies just fine now. But I do know this experience all too well!

G'day fellas, I've been reading your posts. I belong to a club, which is clear accross town, so most of my flying is here in my local park, early morning and late afternoon. The benefits of belonging to the club are that I was taught to watch for the reversed servos, for example, and have been able to avoid the pain of learning the hard way. There are other advantages, setup advice, what part to get for this and that.
I like my independence, but when I can make it, I am a club member and can go to club flying days as well as away trips.

I have mainly foamy warbirds so really enjoy seeing what else is out there when I go to the club to fly, plus I can have an 'old' hand talk me through how to make my landings better etc. I also like to get an experienced pilot to maiden models that I am worried about and to trim them out for me. I'm getting there myself, but they are skills I learned from club members.

Here's a video if anyones interested in exactly how NOT to fly your T-28 . This was my third flight with it and figured as spectacular as the first two crashes were I might as well try and get it on video I've since flown about 3 packs through it since this video and have actually managed to be able to pack the plane up the same condition as I took it out, so progress! Not sure what the cause of this one was. I'm thinking it was the camera's position on the H-stab but not sure, all i know is that it would not pull out of the right roll until I switched to high aileron rates. It then rapidly rolled left went inverted and then since the elevator was still on low rates didn't make the inside loop and...

I now fly only on high rates and its made the world of difference. Makes since my first plane was a Sukhoi XP lol. Well that and I come from a hanger full of Heli's but I figured i'd actually obey the manual for once

I've got 5 years, there, and only had one "close-call" and a "near lay down" ('brodie') that I recovered from - miraculously - and didn't have to jump, with no bike damage.

All this to say that - the more you fly (or ride) - the lesser the proclivity to crash. I knock on wood, as I state that the 'crash era' is largely behind me.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Arcnsparks

Here's a video if anyones interested in exactly how NOT to fly your T-28 . This was my third flight with it and figured as spectacular as the first two crashes were I might as well try and get it on video I've since flown about 3 packs through it since this video and have actually managed to be able to pack the plane up the same condition as I took it out, so progress! Not sure what the cause of this one was. I'm thinking it was the camera's position on the H-stab but not sure, all i know is that it would not pull out of the right roll until I switched to high aileron rates. It then rapidly rolled left went inverted and then since the elevator was still on low rates didn't make the inside loop and...

I now fly only on high rates and its made the world of difference. Makes since my first plane was a Sukhoi XP lol. Well that and I come from a hanger full of Heli's but I figured i'd actually obey the manual for once

I don't have access to a club and sometimes I wish I did simply because I don't have anywhere to land... curbs are really hard on cowls! Anyway, the first plane that I bought after my Super Cub 5 years ago was the Stryker. That plane built a lot of confidence for me so I bought the t-28 (pre-ordered it) and the first one started on fire mid air because I had one of the bad esc's so when HH sent me a new plane I assumed everything was set up correctly and took off without checking the control surfaces. Ailerons were reversed and I actually flew it around like that for 30 seconds or so (felt like a really long time trying to reverse my brain and try to land) but I ended up "landing" in a very very tall tree. If somebody would have been there with me, they may have thought "hummm this guy kind of seems like a nuub, I should remind him to check his control surfaces." That would have been nice!

Yes, yes they will. I would say that in the 5 or so years that I have been flying, I have only landed where there aren't any curbs a handful of times. I cannot believe how easy it is to land in an open area. I almost don't have to think at all
Then only problem that I have is that at any club fields you always approach from the left or right but on my street I alway approach from straight out in front of me. That has made me very good at flying/landing when the plane is coming towards me but landing cross-wise is hard for me since I never have to do it!